Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or blissfully offline), you’ll have noticed that AI has absolutely barged its way into marketing. And content marketers are riding that wave hard.
AI is pumping out blog posts, social captions, emails, and even full websites at a ridiculous pace. Faster than most of us can knock back a coffee. On paper, it sounds like a dream – quick, cheap, efficient.
In reality? A lot of it feels… a bit beige.
Machine-made marketing often comes across flat, repetitive, and oddly disconnected. It technically works, but it doesn’t land. It’s content without context. Words without a pulse.
So where does that leave small business owners who want to save time and money, but still talk to actual humans? Let’s look at where AI falls short — and how to use it without sanding off everything that makes you you.
AI doesn’t feel things (and never will)
AI has no idea what it’s like to laugh so hard you snort tea out of your nose.
It doesn’t know the nerves of hitting “publish” on your first launch.
Or that sinking feeling when you hit send on an email and immediately spot the typo – despite checking it a squillion times.
It also doesn’t know the buzz of signing a new client, or the quiet joy of seeing customers come back again and again.
You do though. And I’m willing to bet at least one of those moments feels very familiar.
That’s the big gap when AI is used without any human input. It can generate endless content, but it always falls a bit flat because there’s no lived experience behind it.
Without emotion, there’s no real connection. And without connection, people don’t remember you – or care all that much about what you’re saying.
You can spot AI content a mile off
If you’ve ever read something and thought, “That’s fine… but dull,” chances are it was written by AI.
AI writes the average of everything it’s been trained on – which means it sounds like everyone else. It doesn’t have quirks, instincts, or opinions. And definitely no soul.
The risk for small businesses is leaning too hard on AI and ending up completely forgettable. All the humour, personality, and odd little edges that make you stand out get smoothed away into perfectly polished blah.
And that’s when people scroll straight past.
Only humans can create with real originality. Only humans can make someone smile, nod along, or – ideally – snort tea messily through their nose. That’s where the magic lives.
Humans make meaning (AI just helps)
AI isn’t the enemy. The problem isn’t using it – it’s letting it take over.
Used well, AI is a brilliant support act. It’s great for ideas, rough outlines, or first drafts. Think of it as a creative nudge rather than a replacement brain.
The good stuff happens when you layer in your voice, your stories, your humour, and your opinions. That’s the difference between content that exists and content that connects.
AI can produce a million decent sentences. Only you can make someone care enough to click, share, or buy.
How to use AI without losing yourself
Full transparency: AI helped me write this. I’m not pretending otherwise. Starting from a blank page isn’t always the best use of my time.
My approach is simple – let AI handle the boring bits so I can focus on the parts I actually enjoy: creativity, clarity, and connection.
If you want to use AI without handing your brand personality over to the robots, try this:
- Use AI to create outlines, then rewrite them in your own words
- Repurpose existing content with AI as a helper
- Brainstorm ideas with AI, but only keep the ones that feel right
- Always edit, tweak, and add your own stories and opinions
You save time and keep the human spark that makes your marketing feel real.
Putting the soul back into your marketing
If your content is starting to sound a bit… robotic (and you suspect that might be why), it could be time for a rethink.
I help small businesses use AI as a tool – not a stand-in – so your marketing still has personality, originality, and heart.
Let’s make sure your voice doesn’t get lost in the machine-made noise.
